About Titanium Rain

Thursday, May 20, 2010

More Formspring Answers

The feedback on Titanium Rain has been awesome. The reviews on Amazon.com so far have been all five stars and we’ve been getting letters from all over the world saying how much people loved this book.

-Kat

What, politically and economically, motivated you to write that the U.S. would enter a direct conflict with China?

Politically or economically? I'm not sure what you mean by this. Economically, I suppose, I could say I do want the story to sell and make money. But politically? I believe I'm saying more about the human condition rather than commenting on any one government or nation. Above all else, though, my motivation is to write a damn good story. My aim is no less than penning a sci-fi classic that is smart, compelling, and worth your time. If it makes you think, good...but I'm not drafting a manifesto here. For a long time now many of the themes in Titanium Rain were burning in my brain and I needed to get them out...deeper ideas that go beyond politics. War, atheism, evolution, man's relationship to technology -- these things came first in the story process. The idea of setting a war in China came much later.

-Josh

Since the Air Force has the F35X Hellcat, do the Marines or the Army have their own super special versions of the JSF?

Well, remaining strictly in the realm of reality, the F-35 Lightening was developed specifically to be a one-size fits all plane of the various branches of the military. Multiple variants of this jet currently exist. The F-35C, which is capable of vertical take-off and landing, is used by the US Marine Corps. In the Titanium Rain setting this concept has been taken further and countless variants of the F-35 exist. Many of these fictional F-35 variants can be seen in the back material of the Titanium Rain hardcover.

Oh...one other thing. Just like in reality, the US Army in Titanium Rain doesn't use F-35s.